Oct. 10, 2003

INDIANAPOLIS - The Lewis University women's tennis team has reached the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship title match for a second consecutive season.

The Flyers, seeded No. 2 in the eight-team tournament, will face top-seeded Northern Kentucky for the conference championship Saturday at 9 a.m. at North Central High School.

Lewis (15-2), which fell to Indianapolis in last year's championship final, earned its title-match berth by beating No. 7 Missouri-St. Louis 5-0 in the first round and No. 3 Indianapolis 5-4 in the semifinals on Friday.

Northern Kentucky (11-1), which was undefeated in regular-season conference play and handed the Flyers their only GLVC loss (6-3), downed No. 8 Bellarmine 5-0 and No. 4 Southern Indiana 5-0 Friday.

Yuliya Kuznets and Tracy Reece at No. 1, Liezl Mendoza and Alane Lezatte at No. 2 and Daphne Hill and Lauren Koveleski at No. 3 staked Lewis to a decisive lead over Missouri-St. Louis by sweeping the doubles matches. No. 1 Kuznets and No. 2 Reece easily won in singles to end the match.

Hill and Koveleski managed Lewis' only doubles win against Indianapolis, but the Flyers stormed back in singles with victories by Kuznets, Reece, Hill (No. 4) and Koveleski (No. 5). Hill's 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph in the match's only three-set affair lifted Lewis into the final.